animal tales...

[jim_p]

I don't know what I can do for my poor arthritic bunny... when I went to feed him today his mobility seemed even worse than ever. He tried and tried but couldn't seem to get his feet under him at all. I gave him a little-bunny dose of Ibuprofen, then hand-fed and watered him for a bit. He may just become a high-maintenance bunn for a while -- he's pretty healthy other than the fact that he increasingly can't move, sorta like a human quadraplegic... guess I'll have to adjust his care accordingly.

At the same time, I flipped through the latest Petco flyer. I noticed that for the Christmas flyer they picked all white animals to show off their products. They showed a stunning all-white cat... I WANT! I miss having a kitty around the house so bad! And that kitty was so handsome!

I've gotta stay away from the PetSmart in Nashua, where they have the live adoption cages... I'm likely to walk out with the lot and then try to hide them from my landlady...

Comments

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Talk to your vet about Glucosamine Condroitin. Find out if you can give it to bunnies. Yes it's human meds, but it worked for my arthritic cat, she was getting really bad, one month on glucosamine and she was doing so much better. I just broke up the capsules and mixed it with her food. I'll bet you could mix it with something smooth that bunny would lick off your fingers. Isn't there some sort of supplement that comes in a tube that has the consistancy of vaseline? you could easlily mix the glucosamine into something like that. Now granted I had to split each capsule into 5 doses, but what I did was mix up 5 days worth at a time, stick it in the fridge and just take the right dose amount out of a larger tub each day. (the capsules were 500mg and my cat got 100 mg a day)

I'm serious, Dr. Karen (do you know her?) suggested it to me, I asked my regular vet and she hadn't heard of it, but said to try it (since she had heard of Karen and knew the suggestion came from a good vet.) My regular vet was impressed with the results and now suggests it to other patients.

poor bunny, I wish you luck with getting him feeing better.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

seems to be being used already: http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Bone_diseases/Osteo/arthritis.htm

so now he'd just need to convince the vet of it...

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

I've been using glucosamine chondroitin (Cosequin) for about a year now and it's slowed the progression, but it can't stop it completely...

[donnad.livejournal.com]

That's too bad, I hope it helped some at least. Hope bunny is doing better soon. Does he have a heating pad or something warm to sleep on? it might help. Arthritis seems to get worse as the weather gets colder.

[silar31.livejournal.com]

I know you are already using Cosequin for the bunbun, Jim, but has the vet suggested trying Adequan shots? For that matter, can you give Adequan to a bunbun? Because Adequan is injected, it is a lot more bioavailable than oral glucosamine.

Failing that, it might be time to look at pain meds (narcotic) and steroids for the little fellow. Yes, they will probably shorten his life span, but you have to weigh the quality v. quantity there.

{{{{{{Jim & bunbun}}}}}}

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

According to the article that thespian linked to, Adequan can indeed be given to rabbits.

As for bioavailability, I'm also changing the dosing slightly... I was sprinkling the cosequin on his greens, but now I'm mixing the cosequin and .6ml of children's Ibuprofen into a teaspoon of baby food (banana or carrot) and letting him lap that up. He's definitely getting it all that way. (I got the Ibuprofen dosage from the vet)

Still, time to call the vet about the Adequan...

[yeah, me shopping in the baby aisle... the things I do for my creatures!]